Gang of robbers burst into terrified mum’s bedroom

Intruders confronted a terrified mother in her bedroom during a burglary in Batley – while her 11-year-old son was sleeping in a nearby room.

Anisa Lorgat was watching TV in bed when three men appeared in her room, demanding gold.

The terrified single mum was put through the ordeal at her home in Howley Walk, Soothill, around 11.15pm on Tuesday, January 6.

She said she had heard a rattle downstairs and assumed it was a neighbour. The three men had broken in through the kitchen window

“I was sat up in bed in my duvet. They told me to put my hands behind my back,” Anisa said. “They came up to me and asked if I was wearing gold earrings.”

Anisa, 31, told the men she had no gold and pointed out a bag which contained cash, trying to maintain eye contact with the intruders.

“I’m a very confident woman, I was scared for my life but I didn’t want them to think I was.”

But she was then forced to watch as the men trashed her entire bedroom.

“You cannot imagine something like this in your worst nightmare.

“I feel very, very fortunate that me and my son weren’t harmed.

The thieves fled with items including Anisa’s son Faheem’s school satchel – which they mistook for the bag holding cash – beauty products, a June designer handbag, mobile phone and her house and car keys – which she fears they may use to strike again.

“He (Faheem) won’t go back, I took him once and he didn’t make it through the front door. He’s petrified.”

Self-employed beauty worker Anisa and Faheem have now moved into her mother’s house in the Mount Pleasant area of Batley.

Though they have lived in Howley Walk for seven years, they are now hoping for a transfer to a new home from Yorkshire Housing.

Anisa does not know how professional the burglars were, because when they confronted her they at first put their hands over the faces so they could not be identified.

CCTV footage from a neighbour’s house shows the trio, with one man looking straight into the camera. “I really hope and pray that they are caught,” Anisa said.

She described the them as Afro-Caribbean and Asian men in their late 20s to early 30s, of “butch”, stocky build and all wearing bomber jackets.

Det Sgt Nigel Gittins, of Kirklees CID, said: “Thankfully the victim was not physically harmed in this incident and I would stress that incidents of this nature are the minority with the vast majority of burglaries happening when properties are unoccupied.

“We have been carrying out house to house enquiries and are currently reviewing CCTV in the area. Anyone who has any information which could help our ongoing investigation is asked to contact Kirklees CID on 101.”

Faheem’s bag was later found in the Beeston area of Leeds and returned by somebody who found Anisa’s number inside.